Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

US Army 1871 Rolling Block Pistol – Obsolete When New

October 19, 2026 Ian McCollum 2

In the wake of the Civil War, the US Army recognized that many of its small arms were obsolete, and needed replacement. For handguns, the main user was the cavalry, for whom a handgun was […]

Does the End of SBR Regulation Mean a Stocked Pistol Renaissance?

October 17, 2026 Ian McCollum 33

With the ATF appearing to essentially throw out regulation of short-barreled rifles, should we expect a renaissance in stocked pistols? Personally, I think not. They are very specialized tools that have been around for as […]

Precursor to the High Power: FN’s 1923 Prototype Model Stocked Pistol

October 16, 2026 Ian McCollum 33

The FN High Power pistol began with a request for a new French Army pistol. The initial design was done by John Browning, with later iterations and improvements from his protege Dieudonne Saive at FN. […]

US Navy MkVI Lewis Gun in .30-06 for the Marines

October 14, 2026 Ian McCollum 13

During World War One, the US Army basically got in a personality spat with Isaac Newton Lewis, and refused to adopt the Lewis gun. The British and Belgians happily made use of it though, and […]

M1E4: Origins of the M14 Gas Expansion/Cutoff System

October 12, 2026 Ian McCollum 19

The E-series Garands were a series of prototypes made at Springfield Armory to test all sorts of different changes to the basic rifle design, from flash hiders to folding stocks. The M1E4 is a design […]

ZKP-541: A Competition Pistol So Complex it was Never Produced

October 9, 2026 Ian McCollum 9

https://youtu.be/uTrQiArjn_I Designed by Augustin Nečas in 1954, the ZKP-541 is a .22 rimfire target pistol, also called the Universal Super Rapid. It is designed to use .22 short, and long rifle, with different bolt assemblies […]

The First EOTech: Series 400 aka Bushnell Holosight

October 7, 2026 Ian McCollum 1

EOTech as a company was formed in 1995 as a spinoff of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor’s Environmental Research Lab, specifically to commercialize holographic weapon sights. Their first product was the Model 400, released […]

Remington Model 10: The Rarest American Trench Shotgun

October 5, 2026 Ian McCollum 9

The US military purchased a small number of Remington Model 10 shotguns during World War One to supplement its Winchester 1897s. They were made in both “riot” and “trench” configuration, with the trench guns using […]

Lercker M53 Experimental .380 Italian SMG (or PDW?)

October 2, 2026 Ian McCollum 28

Between 1952 and 1956 an Italian designer named Cesare Lercker from Bologna developed a series of pistols and submachine guns. He worked with Beretta, although it is unclear if he did the work at their […]

India’s Unique X95 Tavor “Zittara” (I Did Not Expect the Magazine)

September 30, 2026 Ian McCollum 25

https://youtu.be/PwOZXF5c-nw The Tavor has a history of being popular in service with high-end Indian military and security forces, and a deal was made to manufacture the X95 domestically. What makes it unusual is that it […]